Former Liberal state member Joe Francis is reportedly eyeing up a return to politics and is sounding out colleagues to see if he has their support to replace Western Australian senator Mathias Cormann.
Cormann announced he would resign as Finance Minister and retire from politics at the end of the year bringing the curtain down on a almost two decade long career.
The West Australian has reported that Francis is considering a return to politics. Prior to the bloodbath of the 2017 state election Francis was the Corrections Minister and member for Jandakot.
During the final days of the 2017 state election campaign Francis was criticised for making false claims about the Safe Schools anti-bullying program. Under a Liberal government the program would have been axed, Francis claimed the program was delivered to four year-old children, told children they could lose their virginity twice, informed children they could change their gender daily, and the program contained inappropriate materials.
Francis described his claims about the program as ‘the one message parents needed to hear ahead of the election’, the only problem was his claims were not true. The organisation charged with delivering the program in Western Australia highlighted the program was for teachers, only available in High Schools and did not contain any of the content Francis claimed.
The MP did not respond to the accusation his assertions were false, and he lost his seat when people headed to the polls.
Since leaving politics Francis has been General Manager of the Australian Transit Group and in 2019 was appointed to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
OIP Staff
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